Malaysia, Russia work for rubber recycling

Malaysia, Russia work for rubber recycling

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysian and Russian scientists said yesterday they had created a rubber-based compound that can recycle vulcanized rubber like car tires.

Malaysia's B.C. Sekhar and Russia's Professor Vitaly Kormer said they had come up with a reactant called "de-link" which could recycle up to 75 percent of any used vulcanized rubber product.

"We can do a lot with this, and with improvements, it can be used for more processes," Sekhar told reporters. He said the recycled rubber could be used to make cheap products such as floormats for cars and backing for carpets.

Kormer said the reactant had been tested on natural rubber products but could also be used for synthetic rubber items.

Sekhar has been involved in the Malaysian rubber industry for almost four decades while Kormer is known for his work in Russia's synthetic rubber industry.

The scientists said their reactant complements other ways of reprocessing used rubber. They said their process, unlike others, broke down the sulfur used in vulcanizing.

Sekhar said the reactant had been patented and would be produced in a Malaysia-Russian joint venture, STI-K Polymer, which is building a plant in the Borneo island state of Sarawak.

STI-K Polymer is a subsidiary of STI Corporation, a company headed by Tunku Imran Jaafar and Sekhar's son Vinod. Imran is the second son of Malaysian King Tuanku Jaafar.

Sekhar said the plant would manufacture 10,000 tons of the reactant a year, adding that recycling rubber would not affect rubber prices as natural rubber output in Malaysia was shrinking.

"It should be seen as complementing (natural) rubber," he said.